The Politics of Fear

I would like to begin this essay with a question, what does it take to turn an idea into a government policy? If you have an answer to this question, please leave a somewhat detailed comment or send me an Email (or something). Either way, these writings are dedicated to one method which I believe is the most effective approach and perhaps the most commonly used process in terms of making drastic government policy changes, I like to call this procedure ‘The Politics of Fear’.

The general concept, in regards to ‘Fear Techniques’, is that when they are applied correctly we (the unsuspecting citizens) are bombarded with information regarding “Issue X” and some of this information will show “Average Joe” how it affects him personally, so much so that “Issue X” may even be publicized as life threatening. In other words, if we don’t take care of “Issue X’ immediately, there is a good chance all of us are going to suffer and in some cases we may even die.

Sounds pretty terrifying already eh… I mean, “Mother of God (running around the room in fearful manner)… We must take care of this ‘X’ issue at once...”

Before you run into Home Depot and start asking about portable bomb shelters, you should know that the second part of ‘Fear Techniques’ is that they involve misinformation. In one way or another we are being misled to believe something that isn’t necessarily true and sometimes far from it. Within this rogue-information there is an element containing deceitfulness, and most of the time there will be a great deal of selectiveness as to what information is used and what isn’t. If “Average Joe” would only take the time to search for facts and educate himself (Thank God for Google) he will most likely find some of the answers he’s looking for.

I would like to take a moment and elaborate on the word ‘Selectiveness’. In the most basic form it has to do with the notion that “If this information is in line with what I’m promoting I will use it in my campaign and if it doesn’t toss it”. In many ways, this is the same thought process that goes on when companies are creating a T.V commercial for a new brand of cereal. With that said, and as a matter of fact, this type of behavior (as a political issue) is bipartisan. The usage of these ‘Fear Techniques’ is a well thought out plot that is used by Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Liberals, Leftists and Rightists. Indeed, they are used by both the George W. Bush’s and the Al Gore’s of our world.

I will begin with Iraq, or to be more specific, the U.S led invasion of Iraq which is perhaps one of the easiest ways to illustrate what “The Politics of Fear” is as a concept and how it’s applied. To balance the tables, I’ll take a stab at Global Warming, or what we should ALL begin to refer to as ‘Man Made Global Warming’ and not merely as ‘Climate Change’, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Worst Case Scenarios

It’s pretty clear now, in the aftermath of the ‘Iraq Invasion’ that many false statements were made by our government officials. There were no ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. There was no realistic scenario where the “Smoking Barrel” would be in the form of a “Mushroom Cloud”, at least not in a million years. And although Saddam Hussein wasn’t much of a dovish character, he had as much to do with the attacks of September the 11th as you and I. The real question is: ‘Where was all of this information in 2002?’

While the war drums were beating at a steady pace, there were large amounts of information contradicting the assertions being made by Bush and Co. (about 1,000 times pre-invasion). All you had to do if you really wanted to debunk (for example) the ‘Uranium purchased by Iraq from an African country (Niger)’ is follow the name Elisabetta Burba and see where it leads you. This is just one of many examples, but the theme remains similar throughout. Repetitive, terrifying statements that had convinced “Average Joe” that something must be done about Iraq in the name of National Security, or maybe even International Security.

It’s said that when you’re dealing with Security matters you must plan your moves according to ‘Worst Case Scenarios’. The irony in this specific case is that before the invasion Saddam’s Iraq was being publically portrayed in a ways that were in line with this ‘Worst Case Scenario’ theory, yet at the same time everybody was either ignoring or under-the-rug-sweeping any (if not all) contradicting information. This obviously had a tremendous influence on ‘Public Opinion’ and on the final decision, that is, whether or not to move forward with the invasion.

During this time our government officials were planning and preparing for the invasion based on the ‘Best Case Scenario’, sending (for example) the lowest amount of troops possible, and doing whatever they could on the cheap. Their belief was that Invading, Conquering, Overthrowing Saddam, Securing and Building a Democracy in Iraq was going to be more like a ‘Walk in the Park’ than a battle with an ominous enemy, one that was supposedly a real threat to our American freedom. If the end results and real life consequences weren’t as depressing this thought process would be funny in a demented and depraved sort of way.

Perhaps Man Made-Up Global Warming

In the debate concerning ‘Man Made Global Warming’ (MMGW) I cannot personally give you any educated scientific information, I’m simply not a Scientist, or more specifically, I’m not a Climatologist… And neither is Al Gore for that matter.

Firstly, I would like to draw a clear picture in terms of issues regarding ‘The Environment’ and where I personally stand. When it comes to matters of International Policy and the Sociological / Personal Awareness changes that are happening (as we “Speak”), I for one am very happy about them. Indeed, the ‘Industrialized World’ (and in more of a sluggish pace the United States) is becoming “Greener” on a daily basis. When it comes to issues such as (1) Air & Water Pollution, (2) Renewable Energy, (3) Recycling, (4) Wastefulness of Natural Resources, and some of the other main “Green” issues, I believe that it’s very important to change our devious ways. With that said, the correlation between all of these “Man Made Environmental Issues” and any significant existential and/or life threatening ‘Climate Changes’ (caused by “Man”) is (at least) arguable.

Back in the 30’s, that is the 1630’s, a man named Galileo Galilei wandered around the streets of Florence asserting that it is in fact the Sun which is the “Center of the Universe” and not the Earth. This type of thinking was outside-of –the-box during that period of time and a fairly revolutionary concept, therefore Galilei was labeled a “Madman” and put under house arrest, never to repeat such nonsensical banter in public ever again. Of course we all know how this story ends.

The reason for which I’m bringing up this historical story is because of the Sun and its significance in the ‘Climate Change’ arena. What the “Holy Church” did not recognize in the 17th century, Global Warming advocates are completely disregarding today. The Sun is a truly dazzling phenomenon, one which man seems to take for granted all too often. It is disproportionately larger than our little “Global Community”, an enormous burning star which releases gargantuan amounts of energy to the furthest destinations in our ‘Milky Way’ bringing light and warmth to our planet (and several others) on a daily basis while all we can do is float around it in circles. Have you ever heard about “Black Spots” and the effects they have on our climate?

I’ve spent quite some time reading and researching ‘Global Warming’ and I can tell you first handedly that enough esteemed scientists are raising enough logical questions to leave the verdict unclear due to reasonable doubt. Another piece of evidence is the actual percentage of Carbon Dioxide (co2) in the atmosphere to begin with. If I remember correctly (both from the research and from my 7th or 8th grade science classes) it’s around 5%, nonetheless a very low number in terms of proportionality. Since this ‘Global Warming’ crisis was brought to our attention these figures haven’t changed by that much and it is virtually impossible for ‘Man Made Carbon Emissions’ to change that percentage significantly, that is, enough to create what Climatologists call the “Greenhouse” effect. In addition to that, from my understanding, the temperature rises should appear about 10-12 kilometers above sea level for us to be in what they (Scientists) call a state of ‘Global Warming’ and, at least from what I’ve heard, these changes haven’t begun to happen yet at all.

Final thoughts…

So what is going on? Why are we being bombarded with all of this false or incomplete pieces information? Why are politicians using these “Politics of Fear” methods? Some would say that this has become a somewhat normal routine in Political Strategy. If government officials want to get some of these “Green” bills approved they have to get the public behind them, in the same way political strategists made sure everybody in the world knew about Saddam’s ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. In other words, politicians have become very successful in molding ‘Public Opinion’ around issues, they understand the power of the media and most importantly, politicians have learned that in the theatre of ‘Public Opinion’ intimidation goes a long way.